NSW Police fired a test shot into the bedroom door of one of Beau Lamarre-Condon’s alleged murder victims after discovering an apparent bullet hole in the door this year, a court has heard.
asserted
court → fire → door
Lamarre-Condon, 31, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court on two counts of murder over the shooting deaths of Sydney couple Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, in Paddington on February 19, 2024.
asserted
Condon → stand → February
The NSW former police officer has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
asserted
officer → plead → charges
The court has heard police discovered a hole in Baird’s bedroom door in July this year, more than two years after the alleged murders.
asserted
police → hear → murders
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon shot Davies through the door as he tried to call Triple Zero for help.
asserted
he → allege → help
According to the prosecution, a “very muffled” gunshot can be heard in the call.
uncertain
gunshot → accord → call
Lucas Van Der Walt, a police ballistics expert, gave evidence on Wednesday that police removed the door from Baird’s former share house and fired a test shot into it in July.
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police → give → July
Prosecutors allege the original hole in the door was not visible in 2024 because Lamarre-Condon covered it with a stick-on hook on the inside of the door and a stick-on felt pad on the outside.
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Condon → allege → outside
A video of the police test shot was played on Wednesday to the jury.
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video → play → jury
It included a side-by-side comparison of the original hole in the door and the hole made by the test shot.
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It → include → shot
Van Der Walt said both holes measured approximately 10 millimetres in diameter, with a “very similar spread pattern of the propellant particles impacting with the paint and the wood in the door”.
asserted
holes → say → door
He said that “the original shot would have been discharged at a very similar distance” of between five and ten centimetres from the door.
asserted
shot → say → door
NSW Police Senior Sergeant Bronwyn Lansley, the lead forensic investigator at the property, has previously told the court she observed this year that “repairs had been made both to external and internal sides of the door”, where she believed the pad and hook had been located.
asserted
pad → tell → door
After removing a layer of paint and putty from around the site, Lansley said she found grey discolouration consistent with “burnt and unburnt propellant particles, which come out of the firearm when it’s discharged”.
asserted
it → remove → firearm
DNA on the gun
The court heard evidence last week that a partial DNA profile matching Davies was detected from a swab inside the barrel of Lamarre-Condon’s police-issued Glock pistol.
asserted
profile → hear → pistol
Tests also recovered DNA from at least three people on the grip and trigger of the gun, the court heard.
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court → recover → gun
Davies was identified as a major contributor, while the accused was matched as a minor contributor.
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accused → identify → contributor
The third person was not identified.
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person → identify → ?
Testing of a DNA swab from the muzzle of the weapon identified Baird and Davies as contributors.
asserted
Testing → identify → contributors
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon killed Baird, a former Network Ten presenter and producer, after developing an “obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him that escalated when Baird ended their casual relationship in November 2023.
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Baird → allege → November
The prosecution alleges the then-NSW police officer shot Davies to eliminate a witness to his crime.
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officer → allege → crime
The defence case is that Lamarre-Condon entered Baird’s share house disguised as a delivery rider and that a struggle ensued in which his police gun went off twice, killing Baird, and that Davies shot himself in a second struggle.
asserted
Davies → enter → struggle
The jury’s question
The court heard on Tuesday that the 15-person jury had asked a question about the evidence of former crime scene investigator Greg Moon, a retired detective senior sergeant who worked on the Lamarre-Condon case.
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who → hear → case
Justice Natalie Adams said the jury’s note read: “Could the court please clarify if the expert witness Gregory Moon said blood back spatter could reach the inside of the muzzle of the gun through a bullet hole that traverses a door?”
uncertain
that → say → door
Adams said that they would be reminded of Moon’s evidence during his cross-examination.
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they → say → examination
Moon was asked during his evidence last week if blood back spatter could travel back to the weapon through a door.
uncertain
spatter → ask → door
He said that “it could [travel] through the path of the bullet that is made through the door itself”.
uncertain
that → say → door
Lamarre-Condon’s barrister, John Stratton, SC, put to Moon during his cross-examination on Tuesday that “the likelihood of biological material finding its way from the wound of the deceased through a hole in the door less than a centimetre in width and into the barrel of a gun ... approaches zero”.
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material → put → zero
“No, I disagree,” Moon said.
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Moon → disagree → ?
“I believe it still can happen.”
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it → believe → ?
Stratton said: “I’m putting to you that it’s very improbable.”
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it → say → you
Moon said that he disagreed.
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he → say → ?
The defence case is that Lamarre-Condon acted in self-defence after entering Baird’s share house disguised as a delivery rider to retrieve some of his belongings.
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Condon → act → belongings
He had his police-issued Glock pistol with him because he was trained not to leave it unattended, the defence has said.
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defence → have → it
The Crown has said he should not have had the weapon because he was not rostered to work that day.
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he → say → work
There is no dispute that Lamarre-Condon cleaned Baird’s share house and disposed of both of the men’s bodies in surfboard bags.
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Condon → be → bags
Dr Kendall Bailey, a forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortems on Baird and Davies, gave evidence on Tuesday that Davies had two stab wounds on the right thigh.
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Davies → conduct → thigh
The wounds were “consistent with an injury made by a single-bladed weapon”, Bailey said.
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Bailey → make → weapon
She said the “wound tracks were relatively bloodless”.
asserted
tracks → say → ?
In her experience, she said, the wounds’ origins were probably perimortem – around the time of death – or postmortem.
asserted
origins → say → death
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
